The 9-12 Project (alternatively 9/12 Project, 912 Project) was a group created by American television and radio personality

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

. It was launched on the March 13, 2009, episode of ''

'', the eponymous talk show on

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

. A website was launched to promote the group, and several local 9-12 groups formed soon after in cities throughout the United States. According to Beck, the purpose of the project was "to bring us all back to the place we were on September 12, 2001 ... we were not obsessed with red states, blue states or political parties. We were united as Americans, standing together to protect the values and principles of the greatest nation ever created." 9-12 represents the date following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

in 2001, and "9 Principles" and "12 Values" that Beck believes represent the principles and values shared by the

Founding Fathers of the United States The Founding Fathers of the United States, known simply as the Founding Fathers or Founders, were a group of late-18th-century American Revolution, American revolutionary leaders who United Colonies, united the Thirteen Colonies, oversaw the Am ...

. Some of the

Tea Party movement The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...

was part of the 9-12 Project serving as a sponsor for the

Taxpayer March on Washington The Taxpayer March on Washington (also known as the 9/12 Tea Party) was a Tea Party protest march from Freedom Plaza to the United States Capitol held on September 12, 2009, in Washington, D.C. The event coincided with similar protests organized i ...

on September 12, 2009. The 9-12 Project activists claim not to identify with any major political party.

9 Principles and 12 Values

The name "9-12" symbolized both the day after the September 11, 2001 (written as September 12, or 9-12), and the project's "nine principles and twelve values." According to the website, the 9 Principles and 12 Values were derived from the principles of the Founding Fathers: ::At the origin of America, our Founding Fathers built this country on 28 powerful principles. These principles were culled from all over the world and from centuries of great thinkers. We have distilled the original 28 down to the 9 basic principles.http://www.the912project.com/the-912-2/mission-statement/ , The 9-12 Project: Mission Statement The website listed the 9 Principles, accompanied by quotations from

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

. The 9 Principles were: #America is good. #I believe in God and He is the center of my life. #I must always try to be a more honest person than I was yesterday. #The family is sacred. My spouse and I are the ultimate authority, not the government. #If you break the law you pay the penalty. Justice is blind and no one is above it. #I have a right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, but there is no guarantee of equal results. #I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable. #It is not un-American for me to disagree with authority or to share my personal opinion. #The government works for me. I do not answer to them, they answer to me. The 12 Values were: #

Honesty Honesty or truthfulness is a facet of moral character that connotes positive and virtuous attributes such as integrity, truthfulness, straightforwardness, including straightforwardness of conduct, along with the absence of lying, cheating, theft, ...

# Reverence #

Hope Hope is an optimistic state of mind that is based on an expectation of positive outcomes with respect to events and circumstances in one's life or the world at large. As a verb, its definitions include: "expect with confidence" and "to cherish ...

# Thrift #

Humility Humility is the quality of being humble. Dictionary definitions accentuate humility as a low self-regard and sense of unworthiness. In a religious context humility can mean a recognition of self in relation to a deity (i.e. God), and subsequent ...

# Charity # Sincerity # Moderation #

Hard work Diligence—carefulness and persistent effort or work—is one of the seven heavenly virtues. It is indicative of a work ethic, the belief that work is good in itself. In students Bernard et al. suggest that diligence in students is define ...

Courage Courage (also called bravery or valor) is the choice and willingness to confront agony, pain, danger, uncertainty, or intimidation. Valor is courage or bravery, especially in battle. Physical courage is bravery in the face of physical pain, h ...

# Personal Responsibility # Gratitude (originally

Friendship Friendship is a relationship of mutual affection between people. It is a stronger form of interpersonal bond than an "acquaintance" or an "association", such as a classmate, neighbor, coworker, or colleague. In some cultures, the concept o ...

)

History

The 9-12 Project was created as the result of Beck's "We Surround Them" campaign, a series of segments and specials on Beck's

television program Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, e ...

in early 2009 which purported to bring back government

accountability Accountability, in terms of ethics and governance, is equated with answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and the expectation of account-giving. As in an aspect of governance, it has been central to discussions related to problems in the publ ...

. Viewers were asked to incorporate these values first in their personal lives, then expect them of those they elected to office and holding the elected accountable. At one point during the campaign, viewers were asked to submit pictures if they believed at least seven of the nine founding principles and felt they were alone in believing these principles. Many of the pictures were used to form a

collage Collage (, from the french: coller, "to glue" or "to stick together";) is a technique of art creation, primarily used in the visual arts, but in music too, by which art results from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole. ...

that once lined one of the walls in Glenn Beck's

studio. The 9-12 Project grew out of that campaign, as a result of the original call Beck took on his nationally syndicated talk radio show, from "Ed" of

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134,02 ...

. During that phone call in late January, 2009, "Ed" said that he felt "outnumbered" (as a true conservative in today's political battles). Beck told him that he would figure out a way to prove to him that he isn't alone, and that "they," the powers that be, don't surround "us", the American people, but rather, "We Surround Them!" Following the Taxpayer March on Washington on September 12, 2009, Beck introduced a campaign for the 9-12 project called "Re-found America". The campaign aims to find 56 Re-Founders, who are

Congressional A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

politicians who agree to stand against

corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's personal gain. Corruption m ...

and abuses of power, and become whistle blowers, exposing the evidence of corruption. As of 2017, the News section on the 9-12 Project website had not been updated since February 2014, and by June 2017 the 9-12 Project Website itself was no longer extant. In an interview before the 2016 US presidential election, Beck stated that while the 9-12 Project had often been conflated with the

, it had actually been set up in opposition to it.

Local organizations

Individuals in a number of locations in the United States formed organizations and chapters based with the 9-12 Project. The aim of such groups was to get the public active in keeping elected officials accountable to voters and taxpayers. For instance, in Murphy, North Carolina, a meeting of self-proclaimed 9-12 Project members was held on August 29, 2009 "to plan how to elect their own representatives to the

U.S. House The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

and decrease the size and control of the federal government over the lives of American people". The event was attended by "more than 325 people". Another event, in Salt Lake City,

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, on September 12, 2009 (9-12-09), featured several speakers, from activists to conservative public officials. Over 2,000 activists were reportedly in attendance

National events

"9/12ers", as members of the 9/12 movement were sometimes called, also attended various

Tea Party protests The Tea Party protests were a series of protests throughout the United States that began in early 2009. The protests were part of the larger political Tea Party movement. Most Tea Party activities have since been focused on opposing efforts ...

; among those are the

Tax Day In the United States, Tax Day is the day on which individual income tax returns are due to be submitted to the federal government. Since 1955, Tax Day has typically fallen on or just after April 15. Tax Day was first introduced in 1913, when th ...

protests on April 15, 2009, the July 4, 2009

Independence Day An independence day is an annual event commemorating the anniversary of a nation's independence or statehood, usually after ceasing to be a group or part of another nation or state, or more rarely after the end of a military occupation. Man ...

Tea Party protests, and the September 12, 2009

. The project also had a presence at other September 12, 2009 Tea Party protests in cities all across America, from

Tampa Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and the seat of Hillsborough County ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

Fort Worth Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

. Members of certain 9-12 Project chapters held a nationwide protest in front of various

news media The news media or news industry are forms of mass media that focus on delivering news to the general public or a target public. These include news agencies, print media (newspapers, news magazines), broadcast news (radio and television), and th ...

buildings on October 17, 2009. Dubbed "Operation: Can You Hear Us Now", the project was started with the aim of protesting against a

liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

bias in the

mainstream media In journalism, mainstream media (MSM) is a term and abbreviation used to refer collectively to the various large mass news media that influence many people and both reflect and shape prevailing currents of thought.Chomsky, Noam, ''"What makes mai ...

, and called for more honest reporting in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (profes ...

. One 9-12 member from

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

said of the reasons behind this event that, "...news media are not the fourth branch of government. We the people are. News media are the people's established institutions designed to facilitate the flow of information not just from government to the people, but from the people – a self-governing people – to the government we employ."

References

External links